Islamabad: Pakistan’s Supreme Court (SC) on Monday rejected the appeals of 16 people sentenced to death by military courts on the charges of terrorism.
A five-member bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, Chief Justice of Pakistan, heard the appeals and upheld the verdicts of the military courts.
The decision marks the first time the highest court has ruled on the legality of cases tried by military courts.
The bench ruled that the appellants had not proved the military courts violated their constitutional rights or failed to follow procedure.
Nearly a dozen special military courts were set up in January 2015 and were empowered to try civilian terrorism suspects following an attack by Pakistani Taliban militants on a school in Peshawar that killed more than 140 people, mostly students. These courts have so far convicted 104 civilians, including 100 sentenced to death and four to life imprisonment.
Those whose appeals were dismissed on Monday included nine members of the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and two Al Qaida members. Two convicts were said to have been involved in the Peshawar school carnage.
Lawyers for all 16 convicts contended their clients had been tried in secret, without access to legal counsel of their choice and that their confessions had been recorded illegally. They also claimed they were denied access to military court records in preparing their appeals.
The top court ruled that the conditions for a fair trial were met and the defendants had been provided with counsel.
